The Master Teacher founder Bob DeBruyn poses with outgoing Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce Chair Jim Gordon Friday night inside the Manhattan Conference Center. DeBruyn was awarded the 2018 Lud Fiser Citizen of the Year at the Chamber’s annual meeting and banquet. (Photos courtesy the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce)
The 93rd annual Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce Meeting and Banquet was held Friday night inside the Manhattan Conference Center.
Outgoing Chamber Chair Jim Gordon reflected on 2017 and passed the baton to Matt Crocker, the new chair for 2018. Crocker encouraged over 600 local leaders in government and business that Manhattan will need to diversify its economy to ensure future growth. He said a recent study warned the Little Apple is too dependent on the public sector as its economic engine.
But main draw of the annual meeting and banquet was its awarding of the Lud Fiser Citizen of the Year and the C. Clyde Jones Volunteer of the Year.
Dean Thibault of Landmark National Bank was honored as the C. Clyde Jones Volunteer of the Year and The Master Teacher founder Bob DeBruyn was awarded the Lud Fiser Citizen of the Year.
According to the Chamber, Thibault has served for 12 years as executive vice president for commercial lending and Manhattan market branch president for Landmark National Bank, where he has worked for 16-plus years. Thibault was senior vice president at Security National Bank. from 1998 through 2001.
Thibault has donated time to the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce and with Rotary Club. In 2017, Thibault started the Quality Jobs for Manhattan campaign, and his leadership helped preserve economic development funds that will be devoted to future projects, according to the Chamber.
“I had no idea that this was happening about something I feel so passionate about in our community,” Thibault told KMAN following the banquet. “It’s important to celebrate and that’s what this is, a celebration of the community and what we have going for us.”
Dean Thibault of Landmark National Bank poses with C. Clyde Jones Friday night inside the Manhattan Conference Center. Thibault was honored as the 2018 C. Clyde Jones Volunteer of the Year during the Chamber’s annual meeting and banquet.
Thibault echoed Crocker’s message on economic diversity.
“It would be foolhardy on our part to take for granted what Manhattan has built upon the economic pillars of Fort Riley and Kansas State University, because we really do need a greater economic driver than two large government employers in this community,” he said. “And we have a great opportunity to capitalize on NBAF (National National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility) and what we started in this community.
“The ball has just started to roll for us, we just need to keep it going.”
Thibault serves as co-chair for the investment committee portion of the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, which he will chair in 2019. Homecare and Hospice’s campaign to build new office space at 3801 Vanesta Drive was co-led by Thibault. The Kansas State University graduate has made a career in the banking industry with stops at Garden City, Hutchinson and Wichita before making his return to Manhattan.
The Chamber’s Volunteer of the Year award is named to honor C. Clyde Jones, who moved to Manhattan in 1960 and served as the first dean of Kansas State University’s College of Business. Jones has a long-running record of community service activity in Manhattan to include Shepherd’s Crossing.
Thibault is the 29th recipient of the award.
DeBruyn is the 51st recipient of the Lud Fiser Citizen of the Year award. In 1969, DeBruyn founded The Master Teacher to provide solutions for the professional development of educators. The company offers publications and online platforms to facilitate the learning process.
The Chamber says DeBruyn is world-renowned for the scholastic impact made with The Master Teacher. Among DeBruyn’s efforts include involvement with The Yes Fund! (Youth Empowerment for Success), a 25-year drive to provide support for youth development programs in the community. Two beneficiaries are the Boys & Girls Club of Manhattan and Big Brothers Big Sisters program. This effort has raised $5 million for youth programs as part of the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, according to the Chamber.
“Undeserved, of course,” DeBruyn joked after the night wrapped up. “But sure you’re surprised. I had no idea this was coming — no idea at all.”
DeBruyn went to college in Indiana and worked for Standard Oil and Dunn and Bradstreet, a commercial data company, before he was drafted into the military and was stationed at Fort Riley, in the Finance Corp during the late 1950s. He stayed in the Little Apple after his discharge and received a graduate degree from K-State.
Friday night he said he was sure then that we was going to go back to his hometown of Chicago or work in New York after his discharge, but his mind changed.
“I just think that Manhattan is a town of volunteers,” he said. “This is a great place to live. We have great schools and ‘town/gown’ relationships that are superb. I thought when I came into the service that I would be back in Chicago and New York immediately. But I wasn’t here a week until I could see the charity, the kindness, the sense of community that was here. It was exceptional.”
DeBruyn and wife Tracey also lead the Master Teacher Institute for Arts, a unique summer music program that creates opportunities for 40 of the nation’s top high school freshmen, sophomores and juniors. These students receive all-expenses paid scholarships to the weeklong Summer Chorale Institute at Kansas State University, which celebrates its 40th year this summer on the Manhattan campus.
The Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year award is named in honor of long-tenured former Manhattan Chamber president Lud Fiser, who served from 1948 to 1975 and was responsible for such community developments as CiCo Park and Manhattan Industrial Park.
The 50th winner for the 2016 calendar year was Rep. Tom Phillips.
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